Quinoa Caprese Salad

I am always trying to come up with quick dishes to add to the dinner meal besides potato, rice, pasta. I love quinoa for many reasons, one of which is that it is quick cooking. What to add with it to give it some flavor though can be a dilemma. Tonight I tried cooking quinoa in the rice cooker while I went for a run after work. Success! I came back to find the cooker in warming mode and the quinoa cooked perfectly. I threw some cherry tomatoes into the cooker with the quinoa while it was still hot so they would cook slightly. Summer tomatoes always belong with fresh basil, olive oil and mozzarella cheese in my opinion, so a quinoa caprese salad was born. It was a great side dish to some broiled salmon and will be a delicious lunch tomorrow. Enjoy!

Quinoa Caprese Salad
Serves 4 as a side dish

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, finely diced
handful of fresh basil, cut into ribbons
2 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small pieces

1. Add quinoa and broth to the bowl of a rice cooker and cook on the "white rice" setting.  Alternately, add quinoa and broth to a medium pot. Cover, bring to a boil and then decrease heat to low and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed.
2. Once quinoa is cooked, add cherry tomatoes and cover to allow tomatoes to cook and become soft.
3. Drizzle quinoa with olive oil and add garlic, basil and mozzarella. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Can be served warm or cold.

Chicken Sausage & Sweet Peppers with Penne

I love everything about this dinner. It was warm and filling with loads of flavor. This mozzarella and garlic chicken sausage I buy at Sam's Club is a great way to change up the dinner menu. It has a lot of flavor with out all of the fat and calories of beef or pork sausage. It is perfect grilled, but with at least a few feet of snow still on the ground here, I will be cooking these inside for a while.

These mini sweet peppers are helping me get through winter right now. They are so bright in color and full of sweetness in contrast to the bitter cold and grey weather outside. I love eating these peppers raw- they made a snack for me at work.

The pasta I used in this dish is not your ordinary pasta. For the past year I have been primarily using Dreamfields Pasta. It is a local pasta, coming from Carrington, ND, but to me the best part is that it does not raise blood sugar as high as normal pasta. This pasta has 5g of fiber and because of the way it is processed it digests further down in your intestines, not affecting blood sugar as much. I probably recommend this product to at least 3 or more patients per day I like it so much. It tastes great and you don't have to feel bad about eating your fill. Of course it still has calories, but it is going to keep you full longer because of the fiber and digestion process. Next week I will be serving some Dreamfields pasta to members of the North Dakota Legislature while we promote services that Registered Dietitians provide in our state.

The last reason I love this dish- I used some tomato sauce that I made with my garden tomatoes and had frozen. Enjoy!

Chicken Sausage & Sweet Peppers with Penne
Serves 4

5 pre-cooked chicken sausages, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
12 mini sweet pepper or 3 large bell peppers, cut into bite sized pieces
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
splash of white wine
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
16 oz tomato sauce
handful basil leaves
6-8 oz penne pasta (I recommend Dreamfields)
1/4 cup half and half
grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente and drain. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water.
2. Heat a large pan with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add peppers and garlic. Cook for several minutes until they start to brown.
3. Add chicken sausage to pan and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Add splash of wine to pan and allow to cook down for 1-2 minutes
4. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and basil to pan and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and allow liquid to cook down for about 5 minutes. Add reserved cooking water and half and half and stir to combine.
5. Add pasta to chicken sausage mixture and cook for about 2 minutes more. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

Carmelized Onion Bruschetta Burgers-Delish!

 I don't know if you have been keeping up with some of the discussion regarding our food supply in the US, but I disturbs me and makes my brain hurt a little because I am really not sure what to do with the information. If you have not been keeping up, then I highly recommend The Omnivore's Dilemma as a good book, King Corn or Food, Inc as excellent documentaries. The basic problem is that corn has become a huge genetic engineering industry. Most of the corn produced in the US is actually not even safe for human consumption. Instead it is produced as feed for animals. Great idea except that cattle in particular were not meant to eat corn. Their digestive systems work best with grass. Corn, however, is cheap and fattens the cattle quickly. Cattle are able to be slaughtered months or even years earlier on a corn diet versus a grass diet. Because corn is not good for cattle, they become sick and then require antibiotics. Basically, our beef  is a result of a strange corn product, fat and antibiotics. Yum, yum. And we wonder why there are so many more chronic health problems and more antibiotic related disorders and immunity in the US? Read the book or watch the films for more information.

 I struggle with what to do with this information. Do I quit eating beef? Do I spend more money and time to find grass fed beef? What about poultry? (there are problems with this too). What about genetically engineered corn and how it is literally a part of almost everything food product??? Dilemmas. Well I know that I can not stop eating food, so I might just need to make some substitutions or sacrifices. Until I figure it out, I am continuing to eat all types of meat, but trying to choose better products when possible (Just Bare Chicken is one example). Meat is an important source of protein and is a valuable source of iron and B12 in our diets.  It helps keep you full in between meals, helps repair muscle damage and is important for the immune system in the body. 

Many people have switched to turkey in recent years due to presumed health reasons. We assume turkey must be healthier than beef since beef has a lot of saturated fat and turkey is a leaner meat, right? Well, 95% lean ground beef has 155 calories and 6g of fat in 4 ounces and 93% lean ground turkey has 150 calories and 8g of fat in 4 ounces. Not much difference. Lean beef can actually be quite good for you (aside from the problems previously presented). I personally happen to really enjoy ground turkey and use it regularly. I love turkey burgers and actually prefer them to beef burgers any day. The key to a good turkey burger is the seasoning. Turkey has a mild flavor and so you have to season it well to have a good end product.

Last weekend we made turkey burgers and I experimented with my toppings. Aaron had a strip of bacon, provolone cheese and tomato on his, while I tried caramelized onions with Gorgonzola cheese and a basil-tomato topping. (I didn't want to subject Aaron to my experiment until I tried it first!)  I loved my burger and I think you will too. There are so many flavors- the seasoned poultry along with a little sweetness from the onions and tomatoes plus the spicy bite of the basil and the saltiness of the cheese- they all compliment each other perfectly. I seasoned the ground turkey with smoked paprika, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and poultry grill seasoning, but I honestly do not use the same spices each time. I have been known to put in cayenne pepper, rosemary, oregano, basil, etc. So add the flavors that you like and then experiment a little. You could also use a milder cheese on the burger like provolone or mozzarella if you do not like aged cheeses.  Please share your favorite combination! Enjoy!

Turkey Burgers

1 pound 93% lean ground turkey or beef

McCormick chicken grill seasoning

Smoked paprika

Salt

Pepper

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4-1/2 onion, finely diced

Place turkey in large bowl and add seasonings.  Mix seasonings into meat by hand and then divide meat mixture into 4 burger patties. Grill until preferred doneness, usually 5-6 minutes  per side on a grill or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. 

Caramelized Onions

1 medium onion, cut into rings

1 tsp sugar

Salt

Pepper

olive oil
Heat large skillet on medium heat with enough olive oil to cover the bottom.  Add onions, sugar, salt and pepper. Saute until starting to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Turn heat down to medium low and continue to cook slowly, about 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally until onions are browned and sticky. Remove from heat.

Bruschetta Toppings

1 medium tomato, diced

Handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped

Drizzle of olive oil

Salt

Pepper
Combine all ingredients and allow to sit for about 10 minutes. 

Gorgonzola cheese

4 Buns, slightly chared


Place burger patty on bun, top with onions, Gorgonzolla cheese and bruchetta topping to taste.  Makes 4 burgers